Mirror Image
by DreaBean
Summary: Unoffical Sequel to the wonderful movie. Helena needs to go back, and this time, she's brought a friend. HelenaValentine pairing.


Mirror Image

Summary: When Helena meets Val, the rather astonishing incarnation of Valentine, her life gets turned upside down when the MirrorRealm calls her back, this time with Val in tow, to save the White Queen from the newest Shadow Queen, Hel, the girl who once tried to steal Helena's life.

Pairing: Helena/Val, Helena/Valentine (can that be considered one pairing?)

Rating: R, (M?) General moments of horror or angst.

Notes: Mirrormask? Definitely my favorite movie of the year.

-

He was very confused, to say the least, when the pretty girl in the green costume told him he would make a lousy waiter. Not to say that he didn't agree with her, he had always dreaded being under that much pressure - and he had heard - the pay was terrible. After getting over his initial confusion, which seemed to confuse the brown-eyed beauty in front of him, he smiled. "I'm Val," he offered, holding out a hand, which was rather ridiculous because the two were already rather close together.

"Helena," she replied and took his proffered hand, stepping out of his personal space and putting a business like area between them.

"Helena..." he repeated. "Well, that's better than Val, at any rate. Helena...it has a taste of...adventure and intrigue...and just a bit of romance." Her eyes locked on his, startled. Back-peddling quickly, he added, "and, William Shakespeare named one of his characters that. Must count for something, doesn't it?"

Helena stared at the stranger wearing her Valentine's face repeating his words (though opposite) to her. "I suppose so," she finally replied. She tucked her short dark hair behind one ear and he followed the movement with his eyes. "So, you want to join the circus? Are you over eighteen?"

"Just turned nineteen, actually."

"And you have to pass our audition. What can you do?"

"Well..." he glanced at the ground, lifting the bits of fruit she was using for practice. "I can juggle. It's not a talent many possess you know." He began to juggle, passing the balls back and forth between them.

"You do it very well," she complimented him. Together, as though they had already worked on their routine together, Val turned and juggled backwards, forwards, under one leg, over one leg, standing on one foot, and Helena managed to meet him position for position. When they bowed to each other, a moment of silence passed, and the group that had gathered around them without their knowledge began to clap. At the head of the crowd, Helena's father stood a broad smile on his face. "I think you just passed the audition," she muttered to him through a wide smile.

Morris Campbell walked forward, and placing a hand on his daughter's shoulder, he smiled at the boy who had amazed even him. "Welcome to the Campbell Family Circus, my boy," he said jovially. "You've already met my daughter Helena, and I'm Morris." Val shook the older man's hand happily. "My wife is at the tickets stand, Joanne. Welcome to the family!"

Helena tried to remember that Val could never have been Valentine. Their words were the same, their voices, and even their hair, but Val was not Valentine. And the sooner she remembered that, the sooner she'd stop thinking about Valentine.

Helena had quickly grown to love the masked jester from her MirrorRealm, though she didn't know to what caliber. Val's sudden appearance surprised her into flirting. Val glanced over his shoulder at her and gave her a bright smile.

"They're not the same person," she whispered to herself as her father led her new juggling partner into the tent where everyone waited before performances. "They're not the same person." She squeezed her eyes shut and locked away her feelings for Valentine. "They're not the same person...they're not." But as much as she tried to forget Valentine, he would not be forgotten. The harder she tried, the more fixed he was in her memory. "They're not the same person!"

Val was surprised at the warm smile that Helena returned to him when he chanced a smile at her. She was attractive for being younger than he, and he wasn't usually drawn to girls younger than him. There was just something about her...

Helena followed at a slower pace behind her father and Val. She found herself comparing the two - Val and Valentine - in her mind, and finding that they both acted in much the same way. Though generally opposite, she saw many of the same things in Val that she did in Valentine. She missed her masked friend very much. But in the end, he was just a drawing and Val...Well, he was real. She jogged up to join them ahead of her and slipped her hand into her fathers.

-

In the MirrorRealm, Valentine ran for his life as Shadow Minions chased him throughout The City of Light. The Shadow Minions brought the Void with their finger tips and if they got their hands on you, you would cease to exist, as though you never had been. He ran and ran, up the steps to the highest point in the MirrorRealm, to the highest tower of the Library, and threw himself into a doorway, slamming it shut behind him. The books on the shelves fluttered around him angrily, not happy at being disturbed in such a fashion. All but one nipped at his fingers and hair, one just settled on his shoulder. He glanced at it, a little red...notebook. "_A Really Useful Book,_" he breathed. Holding his breath, he opened it to a page in the back.

_Never forget her._

"Well that's bloody useless!" he shouted. "How can I?!" The door shook underneath the blows of the Shadow Minions and Valentine turned to see the door cracking under pressure. He stuffed the book into his pocket, and ran. The window broke under the force of his body and as he fell, he screamed, "HELENA!!!"

He free fell for a long excruciating moment before a monkeybird caught him in midair. "HELENA!" he yelled again, and the monkeybird cooed back. He pointed to the Neutral Lands and the monkeybird turned in that direction. The wind was harsh in his eyes drawing tears - he wasn't willing enough to admit it was anything but the wind.

"Come back..." he sighed. "Please...just come back."

-

Helena sat up straight in the bed of her room, Valentine's name on her lips. She was breathing hard, practically unable to move, such fear paralyzed her body. She hadn't dreamed of the MirrorRealm in such a long time. She continued to draw for It, making It grow, keeping It loved, for an unloved World would only teeter and fall. She loved It, so desperately, but knew that her place was here, in the Real World, the HarshReality. She tried not to dream about Valentine, but not even her subconscious walls blocking him from her conscious mind could keep him from her dreams. But he sounded like he was in trouble. She glanced at her living wall of Pictures.

A monkeybird was flying someone to the Neutral Land, a place she had created specifically in mind for people who were tired of the war between the Two Void's. Since she had returned to her own reality her pictures were almost impossible for her to remove from the wall. If she added, that was fine, and if she fixed, she did it standing up (or more often, on a chair) and drawing right against the wall. The pictures would move - on their own! - and she could watch the comings and goings of the MirrorRealm from her bedspread. She didn't know how, and she didn't know why, but it made her feel safer, knowing that her World was safe.

Hastily gathering her pen and ink she penned a cottage that had Valentine's name on it, and inside the house left a book. Inside the book lay a letter to him.

She thumb-tacked the drawing to the neutral land, and waited. Slowly but surely, the monkeybird managed to bring the small dangling figure to the cottage. Helena lay down to sleep, her eyes heavy and her mind in turmoil.

-

Valentine tumbled to the ground, and thanking the monkeybirds, he turned to look around. A small house caught his attention and he walked up to the door. In loopy curly handwriting his name was stamped upon the door. It was a small place, a little junk room, but it had his name on it, so he went in.

Valentine entered the strange cottage filled with books and odds-and-ends. He scanned the shelves and his eye caught Helena's name. He turned and lifted it from its place. It, unlike most books, didn't attempt to fly away. He opened it and found something that made his knees give out and forced him to sink to the floor.

_Valentine -_

_What the hell is going on?!_

_I had this really weird dream that you were in trouble, so I decided to see if it was true. Do your best to get in contact with me, because I think something's really wrong._

_..of course, I could be going crazy, and you aren't reading this at all._

_Prove me wrong, Valentine._

_Love,_

_Helena_

Valentine put the book down and said aloud, "the Shadow Queen died last year, no one's really sure how. The Child Queen of Night, she's the new ruler of the Black Abyss, the darker side of the Void. She's trying to kill everyone in the City of Light. I was next on the list. But the _Book of Very Useful Things _saved me." He stood and paced. "It told me to remember you. That got me here, where I'm safe. I do need you to come back, and so does the White Queen. Can you? Please?" the plaintive note in his voice was the last thing she heard as she woke to the door of her room opening, and the smiling, open face of Val created her with the new day.

"Helena? Are you awake? Your father sent me to get you. They're having a family mee..." his voice trailed off when he realized she wasn't really listening. Her eyes were on her wall of pictures, her expression sad and desolate. "Helena?"

She turned towards him finally. "Good morning, Val...sorry, what was that?"

He repeated his message from her father. "And...Helena? Are you all right?"

She smiled. "Yes, I'm fine. I was just remembering my dream."

-

After the first night that she dreamed of Valentine, Helena's dreams were empty and useless. She still worried, but her moving wall didn't foretell of any danger. She tried to put it out of her head, occupied with training Val and another newer recruit that looked like she wasn't going to stay for very long.

Val dropped the plums he was juggling when Helena walked in. She glanced at the floor where they rolled and back up to the embarrassed boy. "Butterfingers," she teased.

"You distracted me," he protested.

"I walked into the room," she said, amused. "Something you're trying to tell me?"

Val stammered an unintelligible reply before he sighed and tried again. "Just jealous of your talent. Didn't want to mess up."

"Thanks," she said, running her fingers through her short dark hair. "Um...Dad wants to see you in the main tent, Val." After the handsome nineteen year old boy left, she muttered softy, "they're not the same person!"

She juggled on her own for a while, bouncing her tennis balls off the brick wall. She was instantly reminded of when she was taken over by the Shadow Queen and Valentine had brought her back by juggling with her. She did an abrupt about face and almost ran into Val who had walked up behind her. "Whoa, hey there!" He caught her before she could lose her balance.

She smiled up at him. "Thanks," she said gratefully. "Um...I'll see you later Val." She made her escape to her father.

Val stared after her, perplexed. "What'd I do?" he asked the room. When no answer was forthcoming, he began to juggle again in silence.

-

Helena ran into her father as he was leaving the big tent. "Dad, I'm done practicing for the day, and Val and the other girl are done with training. Can I go back to Aunt Nan's house now?"

Morris brushed his fingers over Helena's hair. "You should get some more sleep. Val mentioned that you've been having strange dreams. Go home, have a nice cup of tea, and sleep well."

"I will dad. Tell mum I said bye, would you?" He hugged her briefly and nodded. "Don't worry!" she said brightly, "I won't make trouble for Nan." She ran off, silently repeating, _they're not the same person _to herself. It had become her mantra. _They're not the same person._

_-_

Valentine didn't hear from Helena again, so he assumed that she had never gotten his message. He stayed in the Neutral Land until he thought it was safe to leave again. He made his way to the Palace of Light to speak with the White Queen, the pale, glowing monarch of the Light City, confident that she would know what to do.

"I'm sorry Valentine. There's nothing we can do. The Creator must return, and set this grievous wrong right again." The White Queen said softly, bowing her head to the masked jester. Her pale face and serene posture conveyed her sorrow, but still Valentine didn't like her answer.

"Who the bloody hell is the Creator?" he asked angrily.

"You know who," the White Queen answered cryptically.

"He...Helena?" he breathed. "She was the Drawer of the Void?" the White Queen nodded solemnly. "Helena? My Helena? She is the reason the cities have grown?"

"Yes, dear Valentine. She even created you, me, the Shadow Queen and the Child Queen of Darkness. The Child Queen, Hel, she is the alter-ego of your dear Helena; there is always a double in every world, my dear Valentine. I am the double of her mother, Joanne, and herself, the double of our tormentor. Only she can come to right this wrong."

"And if she kills the Child Queen of Darkness?" Valentine asked fearfully.

"She will be given the choice to stay, to become the Princess of the Shadows, and rule with me in Peace. The Mirrormask does not choose foolheartedly."

Valentine's gaze was drawn the silvery mask on the cushion. Inside of the reflection lay Helena sleeping. His lips curled up in a hopeful smile. "Do you think she'd stay?"

"I do not have all the answers, Valentine. I only know what I know. Helena may choose to return to her reality. For her, this is a dream world, and barely real. There may be someone holding her back."

"No!" Valentine cried, more than a little desperately. "I'd know! We're best friends!"

The White Queen only smiled. "Time will tell, dear Valentine."

Valentine glanced at the Mirrormask again and whispered, "Please come home, Helena." The image of the girl in the mask blinked out as Helena woke up. A slight fluttering in his pocket reminded him of the _Very Useful Book _and he pulled it out. He opened it to a page fairly early on, and stared.

_Be careful what you wish for._

-

Helena sat up in bed, yawning. Her dreams had been empty but she still had a sense of foreboding coiling in her gut. Something was wrong in her MirrorRealm. She went to go see her mum who was having a lie-down in her Aunt Nan's room. The tumor that had terrified their lives last year was gone, but she had grown weak, and often took naps. "Mum?" she asked, shutting the door behind her.

"Hey..." her mother said softly. "I have something important to ask you." Her mother rolled over and sat up in bed. "Do you remember when I had the..." Helena nodded quickly. "I had this dream...that you were the one who saved me. You woke me up in the end...you and a boy...I thought I dreamed you a boyfriend and you got so cute and flustered." Helena nodded slowly, confused. "I dreamed about it again...but this time you weren't there."

Helena blinked. "No, I wouldn't be would I?" she asked rhetorically. "I'm still here." Joanne's face formed a perplexed expression. "Mum..." Helena said, "what if I told you it was real?"

"Real," Joanne repeated. "This isn't about not liking the circus again, is it?" she asked suspiciously.

"Mum!" Helena sighed in exasperation. "I haven't complained about the circus in months." Joanne just gave her a disbelieving look but let her continue. "It's...something that I created because I wanted to escape. I drew it when I needed some other place to be. Mum...you dreamed about the MirrorRealm," she concluded softly, and seriously.

"Are you having me on, love?"

Helena frowned. "No! I'll prove it." She leapt up and ran into her room snatching one of her many sketch books off the floor. On it was a picture of a sphinx, cleaning it's back paws. She pulled it out of the book and grabbed a pen. When she went back into her mother's room, the cat like creature had shifted back to looking like a drawing. Joanne looked at it dubiously for a moment then glanced back up at Helena.

"I don't see anything."

"Mm. Watch." Helena drew an open book just in front of the cat. Almost too quick for Joanne to see, the sphinx's eyes shot to the food source. It unwound itself and sauntered over to the book before ripping into it. All on the paper.

"Oh my god!" Joanne gasped. The cat creature glared at her for disturbing it's dinner but quickly decided to ignore her. "How...how?" she asked.

"I don't know Mum. After you came back from the hospital, it happened." Helena put the cat on the table for later. "It was just...my world." She shrugged. "I've been dreaming about it too, you know."

"Helena." It was the serious tone in her mother's voice that drew her gaze up. "It's in trouble."

"I know," Helena whispered, her voice choked. "But there's nothing I can do here."

"So go there," her mother said simply. "I love you, my dear child. But this is your World, and your Reality. It needs you."

"I know mum..." her mother smiled at her. "I know."

Joanne's smile grew cheeky. "And so does that boyfriend I dreamt you."

"Mum!" Helena said, half heartedly buffing her mother with a pillow. "Valentine is not my boyfriend."

"I bet that Val we hired wants to be."

"Mum," Helena rolled her eyes. "Val's too old for me."

"Nonsense. You know...if you do go back to the...what did you call it? MirrorRealm, promise to come back."

"I promise mum." She sighed. "I just wish there was a way for me to get there. I want to help, I hate feeling so useless."

_Be careful what you wish for._

_-_

A week later saw no more dreams of the MirrorRealm, from Helena or her mother. She lay back on her bed, tired after a long days rehearsal. Eric had played violin for her while Val and herself had done their routine. She forgot for those two hours that he was Val and not Valentine. _They're not the same person! _She reminded herself violently. _And at any rate, Val's not even..._

Someone clearing their throat got her attention. She sat up straight in bed, and stared in shock. From her mirror, in which she had drawn a large ornate window on with glass crayons, stood the Prime Minister. He waved sheepishly at her. "Prime Minister!" she cried.

_-_

Val paced outside of Helena's room, her Aunt Nan letting him in a few minutes before. He wanted to go in and see her, see if she wanted to go out to dinner. He raised his arm to knock and then he heard voices.

"What are you doing here?" Helena sounded overjoyed.

"We need your help, Helena. Please princess."

"Prime Minister!" she chastised. "You know I'm not a princess."

What the hell was that supposed to mean? Val wondered.

-

The Prime Minister smiled secretively at Helena. "You might be." He reached behind him and took out the Mirrormask. He flipped it so the mask faced him and the place to put your face was shown to her. It glinted at her, silvery and inviting. "This window is our gateway to your world. Just put your face into the Mirrormask and you can come."

"I can...I can come back...?" she whispered.

Hesitantly, Helena reached towards the mirror, and the mask hidden within. Her fingers brushed the cold, smooth surface of the mirror

-

Val had heard enough. He threw the door open to Helena's room to see her lean forward and her face melt into her mirror. "HELENA!" he cried, jumping forward and grabbing her hand.

A tight wrenching in his gut was all that warned him before he swirled out of existence. He clung to Helena's hand even though he couldn't really feel it anymore. He knew that if he let go, he'd be lost in the swirling abyss of colors forever. Places flashed by, the circus, the tube station, apartment buildings, cars driving upside-down, human bodies moving in synchronicity on a sideways dance floor. Then, gradually getting stranger, a windmill, a river running backwards, flying books, words swirled around his head in whispers he couldn't hear.

The tunnel of flashing light and sound raced faster and faster, images blurring into shapes, shapes blurring into sound, and finally a doorway appeared and he and Helena slammed through it.

Val and Helena tumbled to a stop inside the Palace of Light, once again in the MirrorRealm.

"Helena?" he asked. He stared at her in bewilderment, dazed and slightly bruised.

"VAL!" she cried. "How could...why did...this wasn't supposed to happen!" she wailed.

"Where are we?" he asked looking around.

"The MirrorRealm." Helena took his head and started up the steps. "As long as you're here, I guess I could use the help. Your Majesty?! Prime Minister?! ...Valentine?"

The White Queen swept down the stairs a moment later in answer to her calls, tall and regally sedate in ivory and silver.

"Valentine?" asked Val. "Why would you–whose she?" He asked, staring at the pale-robed monarch.

"Your Majesty!" Helena let go of him and ran up the stairs. "I made it!"

"And you brought a friend," the White Queen said warmly.

"He hitchhiked. Majesty? Where's the Prime Minister? Where's Valentine?"

Before the Queen could reply..."Helena?" a startlingly familiar voice asked hesitantly.

She turned, and just behind Val stood Valentine. Where Valentine wore white, Val wore dark blue, his clothes tighter to his body and less voluptuous than Valentine's large white coat. Valentine's whose eyes were hidden, to Val's expressively confused ones.

Helena's own eyes lit up, and she broke away from the White Queen to race down the steps back towards Val.

Val saw her eyes land on something behind him and watched in shock as she ran down the steps into the open arms of another man. A man who looked a bit like him if you forgave the mask. They were the same build, same height. And when he spoke, he sounded like Val. "Valentine! I thought I'd never see you again!"

"Helena! You came!" Something beat against her side and when she stepped back, _A Really Useful Book _flew out and soared happily around her head.

"Book!" she cried, catching it. "Oh God. Valentine...I want you to meet someone."

Val beat her to the chase. He walked up behind and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Helena!" he said. "Who the hell is this?"

"I could ask you the same thing!"

She stepped between them. "Valentine...this is Val. He's from my Reality. Val, this is Valentine." She looked from one to the other. "And I can see how easily this will get confusing."

The White Queen allowed the two men to glare at each other, before she glided down the steps. "If we're quite finished gentlemen," the two men stepped back from each other and Helena turned to face the Queen. "Lady Helena, I cannot express my gratitude that I have for you when you risked your own unconcerned life for mine to wake me up last year. This is why it is with my deepest sympathy that I get to meet you in these darker times."

"It's all right, my lady. I understand." Helena bowed to the White Queen though the beautiful lady shook it off.

"No, it is not all right," she said firmly. "The Queen of Shadows died earlier this year - no one is quite sure how. Though we were sisters, and not close by any means, it still pains me to think of murder." The Queen ran agitated fingers through her hair, and she moved forward to earnestly look at Helena. "The Land of Shadows has been renamed to the Black Abyss, and the Child Queen now rules there, the daughter of my sister."

"The Anti-Helena," Helena said with dawning understanding. As the White Queen finally stood still enough to explain, Helena paced in front of her two friends, and the queen. She only paused when the Queen and Valentine chimed in.

"Yes, the very girl who attempted to steal your life from you."

"So we have to beat her again, yeah?" Valentine asked. "Now remember, Helena, don't go making these world-saving decisions without your manager present." He grinned at her. "Though you know I'm with you every step of the way."

"You're not my manager Valentine," she said with a laugh and Val's eyes narrowed in jealousy. Valentine caught her shoulder to stop the restless movement and gave it a quick squeeze.

Val stepped into her line of sight. "I'm with you too, Helena, even though I haven't the foggiest on what's going on..." he offered, pleased when her gaze transferred from the other him, to him.

"Thanks Val." She frowned suddenly, smacking him on the shoulder. "Though I am still angry with you for popping in for a ride! What if you'd been hurt!"

Val took a hesitant step away in the face of her fury. "I'm sorry."

_Oh yeah...they're not the same person..._Helena sighed. "It's fine, Val. Just...don't ask too many questions just yet." She turned back to the White Queen. "What do I have to do?"

"You have to kill Hel, and take from her, her own Charm. One that she kept from your world. It's the only way for anyone else to assume the throne."

As apprehension set into Helena's face, she bravely nodded. "Who will assume the throne, Majesty?" she asked her voice laden with confusion and a little bit of fear.

"Why, I had hoped you would be willing to assume that role, Helena."

Astonishment leveled out on the sixteen year old's features. She opened her mouth ready to protest and back away from the task, but all that came out was: "me?"

-

Val exploded, a great panicking fury welling up within him. "You can't! You have a life back home! What about your mother? Your father?!"

Valentine rounded on him. " Hey now! It's her life, you know! You can't tell her what to do!"

"And wouldn't you like her to stay?" Val asked icily.

Helena's eyes grew dark as she grew angrier with her two friends. They continued to bicker until finally her patience snapped.

"Are you two quite finished?" she asked coldly. "Because I'm standing right here, and I can hear you. And I don't appreciate having my future discussed in front of me." She turned to the White Queen. "This is my World. I created It, and I'll save It." She paused watching the reactions of her two friends. Val's face fell while, as much as she could tell, Valentine's lit up. "But I can't promise I'll stay. I made a promise to my mother." Their expressions swapped at the blink of an eye.

Val nodded once, almost matter-of-fact. "Of course you'll come home. What's keeping you here?"

Only the Queen seemed to notice the subtle glance Helena gave Valentine. Before Helena could make or break either boy's heart with a reply to the HarshReality boy, the Queen cut in. "Please, before we get into petty arguments, Lady Helena, why don't you inform young Mister Val on this Realm and how it came to be."

Helena glanced at her two friends and nodded. "Yes, you're right. Do you have a room where we can sit? And...maybe some tea? This is kind of a long story." Her face brightened. "In fact, Majesty, even you haven't heard the entire tale, since you were asleep for most of it!" The White Queen smiled and led them into a chamber just to the side of her bed room.

"This place should be sufficient," the Crystalline Queen said. She sat on one of the white couches. "Please, sit."

Helena took the lone chair, slipping off her shoes and curled up while forcing Val and Valentine to sit side by side on the couch opposing hers.

"Um...okay. It happened last year, roughly, when my mum got real sick. She had to go to doctors and have them operate on her brain." Valentine made a sickened face. "When...when they started to operate, I woke up later that night and found myself in this street corner, where there was a violinist, and two jugglers. That's when I first saw the Black Shadows and when I first met Valentine." She glanced briefly at the masked man. "His friend Bing saved my life and Valentine got me out of that area of the city and to the main part of the City of Light. I got arrested for being a 'princess' and met the Prime Minister, and was told that there were two cities..." her voice rambled on as she continued to tell her tale, her face and voice animated depending on which part she was at.

"The answer is still a secret," muttered Valentine, which earned an interrupting laugh from Helena.

"Yeah, the sphinx was so confused. He actually bought the 'what's green, hangs on a wall, and whistles' riddle that has no real answer!" She shook her head and continued, "We had the key, and we found the monkeybirds..." she continued on to tell about her dream world within the dream world, when she imagined the building and there it was... "as we were about to start trying keys in locks...the anti-Helena destroyed my wall of Pictures, bringing the place we were in into the swamps of the Dark Lands. I hurt my arm, and Valentine..." she trailed off.

Valentine cleared his throat. "And Valentine sold her out to the Shadow Queen, giving up his only friend for jewels and money. However, he found out that Helena wasn't really the Queen's daughter, because he found where the MirrorMask was supposed to be and found the Anti-Helena's note instead. He went back to save her, and he did."

Val growled. "And she forgave you?!"

Helena cut off any further interruptions. "We found the Mask in Hel's mirror and ran away again. We may have gotten more of a head start if Valentine hadn't found food. He ate the future fruit, and suddenly shouted, 'no, I don't want to be a waiter!'..."

Val snapped his fingers. "That explains it! That's why you told me I would make a lousy waiter when we first met. You thought I was him!"

"Yeah." She looked down, a little flustered. "A-anyway, we got into Valentine's tower, and managed to use a window to swap me and her. It was like the past had never happened. My mother was fine, my wall of Picture's intact. Then I met you, Val, and you reminded me so strongly of Valentine...that I thought he had come with me. Then you were so confused that I knew you didn't want to be a waiter, and I knew...you two _couldn't be the same person_."

Valentine snorted. "Bloody right we're not. I have a proper face!"

Helena's eyes brightened and she said, "wait a minute, _I _have a proper face. Can you do this?" she crossed her eyes as she looked at him and Valentine couldn't help the warm smile that crossed his face.

"That," he said with a laugh, "is disgusting."

Val slumped in his seat and glared at the man with his voice. He wondered if this _Valentine _had a real face underneath the strange foam mask he wore. He shifted forward, and suddenly a red backed book flew out and attacked his face.

"Book!" cried Helena, and she caught the small red leather paperback and cradled it to her. "I'm so sorry, Val. He's never done that before." The book flipped in her hands and opened. "Oh.." she frowned.

Immediately, without thinking, Valentine stood. "What's it say?" he asked her softly and took the book from her, their fingers brushing.

_Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer._

_-_

Joanne Campbell stood in her daughter's room, unconcerned by her daughter's (and Val's) disappearance. Morris had asked her if she knew anything and she had merely answered, "Don't worry, love. Helena can take care of herself. This is something she needs to do."

Joanne watched as three figures danced down the steps of the spiraling palace Helena had created. The smallest with long hair stood between the unmasked and masked men. Joanne placed a kiss against her fingertip and pressed it to the head and face of the drawn girl.

-

Feeling a ghostly pressure on her forehead Helena glanced up sharply and smiled. "I love you too, mum," she whispered.

-

Small writing appeared next to the girl's picture and Joanne smiled. Her daughter had done great things. This was just more proof of it.

-

Helena walked unconcerned through the City of Light between her two very different friends. "Valentine?" she asked suddenly.

"Yeah?" he looked up at her.

"Where's your tower? It's getting dark.." she glanced nervously at the sky as the glorious sun sank below the horizon, a twinkle in his eyes. "And I think we're going to need a place to stay again."

"Do you have that thing that makes light?"

"Not this time, sorry." Valentine blew out a breath.

"TOWER!!!!!!!!" he called loudly, causing both Val and Helena to flinch in surprise. A moment later the tower floated down to rest a few feet away.

"_There's no need to shout, Valentine." _The Tower said with a whimsical laugh. The Towers male nor female disembodied voice continued pleasantly, "_Your voice itself is annoying enough as it is. It's a wonder you don't send your enemies crawling away with their hands over their poor ears."_

Helena laughed. "Thank you Tower, for coming and getting us."

"_Think nothing of it, Miss Helena. Glad to be of service." _

"Oh sure, you're nice to her!"

"_She's nicer to me than you are, Valentine. If you're not careful I might sweep your sweetheart away and keep her for myself!" _the Tower said triumphantly.

"She's not my sweetheart!" Valentine shouted, embarrassed.

Helena blushed, and she could almost swear the Tower was smirking. "_Of course she's not. Silly me." _Valentine grumbled something she couldn't hear and push past her and Val, storming away.

"_Sorry, Miss Helena, I didn't mean to make him angry with you."_

"He's just brassed off his tower got one up on him," she said, though she didn't honestly believe it. There was something different about Valentine...she shrugged it off and turned to Val. "Wait here, I'll go after him." Val sat on the floor and waited as Helena ran up the stairs after Valentine. "Valentine!" she called stopping short at the top. Valentine had his back to her, eyes on the scenery below them.

"I keep thinking it's going to crinkle up and go away," he said softly. "If my tower offended you..."

"He didn't. Did he...did he offend you?" she asked carefully. She lingered behind him, forcing the masked man to turn to look at her.

"Well, yes! He doesn't know what the bloody hell he's talking about! Stupid tower, always sticking his nose where it isn't needed!" Valentine did turn to face her, his arms crossed angrily over his face. Though he was trying for outraged, he only really managed to look adorable, and Helena laughed inwardly.

She looked down at the floor to hide her smile. "I didn't know Towers had noses," she commented, and she couldn't her lips turning upwards in a smirk.

He glanced up to look at her. "Well you don't know a lot now, do you." But he was smiling when he said it.

"Valentine...?" she asked softly. He took a couple steps forward in order to hear her better. Helena screwed her courage up and asked: "Can you take your mask off?"

"Why would I ever do something like that?!" he asked shocked, taking a small step backwards as though she would rip it off his face.

Violently Helena shook her head. "No, I mean.. no.. not now, as in the action...but could you? If...or when...you wanted to?" She gave him a searching look, founded with a warmth that hadn't been visible to him before.

So, Valentine shrugged, uncomfortable. "I guess...do you want me to?"

Helena stared at him astonished. "If I said yes...would you think I was crazy?" she repeated her words to him from her first adventure with him long again.

And in return, he did the same. "Yes, I expect so," he said. Then he lifted his hands to his mask. Time slowed as Valentine hooked his fingers around the edges of his mask by his ears and started to pull.

Then, just as the foam started to separate from his skin...

"What's taking you two so long..." Val walked into the room and the moment was broken. Valentine's hands dropped to his sides and Helena took a step away.

She turned to Val. "He's being stubborn that's all." She tried her best to hide her disappointment from her confused friend.

Valentine flashed a quick grin in order to put Helena at ease.

"Valentines," he quoted, "are often stubborn." Helena giggled and Valentine turned to face Val. "So, _Val_." There was something in the way the masked man said his name that the circus boy just didn't like. "Ever tried a future fruit?"

"Valentine!" Helena smacked him on the arm and gave him an affronted look. "They take 300 years to grow! You can't go around picking all of them!"

"They taste good," Valentine said as though that explained everything.

"Oh!" Helena scoffed. "You and food."

Val cleared his throat and they stopped their flirting banter to look at him. His facial expression bordered on annoyance and just barely passed 'okay'.

"Look. I don't know what the hell you two went through the first time around, and I don't care. I just want to get home, so can we please hurry it up!?"

Helena bit her lip. "Sorry Val...Mr. Tower?" she called.

"_Yes, Miss Helena? Where would you like to go?"_

"The Black Swamp."

"_Are you...sure...?"_

Valentine snapped. "Of course she's sure! Just go, Tower!" Distinctively getting the idea that the Tower disapproved immensely, Valentine, Val and Helena moved back to the first floor to wait for the trip to be over. When they reached the first floor, the tower lurched sickeningly and put on a burst of speed. Val glanced out the window at the clouds rushing by, and the wind howling just outside the window. He fidgeted as he sat, seeing the ground only as a blur of green that made him ill. He turned his attention to Helena.

Helena paced as she waited, annoying both the blonde boy and the masked man. Valentine finally threw one of his glow balls at her which she caught immediately. She threw it back at him with more force than she would have if she wasn't worried out of her mind. He tossed it back gently, almost scolding her for her prior roughness. Val watched through narrowed eyes as Helena studied the ball before throwing it back to Valentine again.

The lines of the masked man's mouth softened and grew into a quirky smirk as he took out several more balls from somewhere in that white voluminous coat of his. They began tossing the balls back and forth in the exact circus act that she and Val had practiced. Valentine glanced into Helena's eyes and faltered at the warmth he saw there. He fumbled his ball and it fell to the floor, causing the entire sequence to halt. He glanced back up at Helena and a strange expression set upon her features. Her voice was rich with amusement though, as she said, "butterfingers."

Val growled inwardly. "Hey, Lena?" he asked suddenly, trying to get her attention away from the masked jester. "What do we do now?"

Helena sighed, glancing at him. "Damned if I know, Val." She nudged one of the glow balls with her toe. "We just go," she offered with a sad little shrug. "And hope for the best."

Val nodded. "Yeah...all right then. Hope for the best." He glanced at the masked man. "You have any bright ideas, _Valentine_?"

Valentine ignored the obvious jibe to his name and shrugged as well. "Don't ask me, I'm just the manager. Helena's always making these world saving deals without discussing me."

"You're not my manager. I don't need a manager!" She tossed her hair back and smirked at him. "In fact...I'm not even sure I need..." he tossed a glow ball at her and she wasn't quite quick enough to catch it. The ball smacked into the side of her head. "Hey!"

She picked up the ball and threw it back at him, missing him completely. He laughed and pointed at her. "Missed me! Missed me! Now you got to kiss me!"

Val watched Helena' carefully as she flushed delicately from under her hair. Val cut in before she could reply, partly saving her from having to answer, partly saving himself from hearing it. "Hey, Lena! You can see the city from here!" he called from his place at the window.

Almost thankful for the diversion, Helena smiled quickly at Valentine and joined her blonde friend at the window. "Yes, the Tower's wonderful!" The low chuckle that answered her made her grin. "Oh! The Mask Shop is over there!" she pointed. "Hey Valentine! Don't let them see you're afraid."

"Stupid Sphinxes!" he growled.

"And...the Giants are over there." She turned to look at her masked friend. "If you have it you want to share, if you share it you haven't got it?" she asked.

Val, his eyes still on the horizon commented, "that's a secret, right?"

Valentine grinned. "Yeah! The sphinx didn't get it, so I shouted..."

Together, Helena and Valentine chorused, "look! An idiot!" They laughed and Valentine joined them at the window.

"Hey, there's the borderlands where the MirrorMask rests. And beyond that, Neutral Territory." He glanced down at Helena. "You created that for us, didn't you?"

"Yes...I created this world, hell, I practically created..." she stopped talking suddenly and looked away. "I created a lot of things, Valentine...that's why I'm here." She glanced back out the window. "Oh! And there's the Library! Where we got the _Really Useful Book_!" Her eyes were clear when she looked up at Valentine, and she asked, "I did wonder, actually, how you got him back and in such good condition. We tore him apart pretty badly."

"I don't know," Valentine answered. "He was in the library, when I needed him the most."

"That's our book," she smiled up at him, and noticed the hard lines of Valentine's face as they softened into a smile for her. The moment was broken when said book flew out of Valentine's clothes and sat itself upon Helena's head. She flipped it open and frowned.

_The end of the world, is the day after yesterday._

Valentine frowned. "That's ominous..." he whispered.

Val glanced at the book. "What are you talking about. It says, "remember what your mother told you." He frowned at them. "How is that ominous?"

Helena glanced back down at the book. _Remember what your mother told you. _"Valentine...?" she questioned, worried.

"I don't know," he said. "I really don't."

Helena flipped the book closed, handing it back to Valentine. "Something is very, very wrong.." she breathed.

-

Joanne tried to comfort her husband as the days crawled by and Helena and Val still didn't turn up. Morris sat on his daughter's bed, desolate. "Joanne, I don't understand. Why did she go?"

"She had to do something, love. This was very important to her." She glanced at the wall discreetly. "She told me where she went and that you shouldn't worry. She took Val with her for company, and so you would know that she was protected."

Morris glanced at his wife. "What was so important that she couldn't leave a number for us to ring? She left her cell phone!"

Joanne looked amused as she glanced at the wall again. "I don't think they have phones where she is."

-

Speaking of, Helena glanced at the sky, muttering, "damn, I wish I'd brought my cell phone..."

"Your cell? You have a cell?" Valentine asked from his position next to her, his lips drawn down in a frown. "Why do you have a cell?"

"No, silly. A cell phone. Don't you have a telephone?" His blank look (the same look, incidentally, as the one he gave her when she first explained to him about the windows) spoke volumes.

Val tapped her on the shoulder holding out his little black phone. "Here."

She flipped it open and turned it on. _Emergency only _blinked up at her. She scowled.

"This is my world," she told the phone. "And if I say you have service, then you have service, damn it!" the phone beeped in protest then flashed four bars in the corner as though trying to prove a point. "See? I told you." She flipped open the address book. "Val, do you have my cell phone number in here?"

"It's under Helena."

"Wh...oh there. Thanks." She hit the send button and gestured for the confused Valentine to stay silent.

-

In Helena's room the phone blasted out a cheery tune that startled the young girl's parents out of there misery. Joanne, faster on the uptake than her husband, lifted the phone and glanced at the display screen. _VAL _blinked there and the tune continued. "Hello?" she said into the phone after hitting Answer.

"...Mum?" Helena whispered.

"Helena?!" Her mother cried, shocked beyond belief. "How is this possible?!"

"That's Helena, give me the phone! Give me the phone!" cried Morris. Joanne smacked his hand away.

"You told me It was my world, mum. I just told It that if I said It had cell phone service, then It would have it for me. I didn't want to worry you." Helena's eyes glazed with tears and she fought to keep her voice steady.

"Of course we're worried darling, but that's because we love you. How are you holding up?" Joanne smacked Morris' hand away again.

"I'm okay. So is Val if you want to know. He kind of...hitched a ride on the Mirror Express..." she tried to chuckle but it fell flat. Valentine's hand hovered over her shoulder and when a light shudder ran through her, he decided to stop being a coward. He laid his hand on her and squeezed gently.

"I'm so glad, love. Will you be able to call again? Oh...your father wants to talk to you."

Helena shifted the phone away from her ear not a moment too late. "_YOUNG LADY! Where are you?! Do you have any idea what this has done to your mother and me! Where's Val!? I thought he was a respectable, good man and he's run off with you! I want some answers, Helena!!!"_

Speaking directly into the phone, the ear piece still a good six inches away from her face, she said, "I'm sorry dad, but I can't really tell you where I am. There...isn't really a name. I'm with some friends though, Val and another..."

Joanne could be heard tinnily through the phone with a: "I told you I dreamed her a boyfriend, Morris."

"Oh mum! He's not my boyfriend!" She chose not to interpret the tense stiffening of Valentine's hand upon her shoulder, nor when it fell away and he moved across the tower from her. "Besides Dad, you wouldn't believe me."

"Of course I would, love."

Helena rolled her eyes at Val. "All right then, dad. I'm in another reality called the MirrorRealm, and I created it, in fact, you can see it from where you're standing. It exists on my wall, and I have to save it. Again."

There was a shocked silence on the other line and Morris said, "You don't have to lie, love."

It was Joanne who chose to reply next. "She's not, my love. I know where she is. She's telling you the truth. Helena, love, where are you exactly?"

"I'm in Valentine's tower. We're up...in the sky.." she winced at how it sounded, coming out of her mouth.

"Oh the not-boyfriend. Yes, I see it."

Helena gestured Val to get out of the way, and she walked to the window. "Mum, dad, look at the window by the balcony of the tower." She concentrated hard and instead of seeing the scenery below her, she saw her room, and her parents, their eyes boring into the little tower. "Hello..." Helena waved with her free hand.

Morris' eyes rolled up and he fainted. Joanne took the phone from him and said into it, "Hello, love."

"Hi mum..." she whispered. "I have to go now...I'll call back when I can." She blew her mother a kiss, hung up the cell phone and stepped away from the window. When she glanced at it again, the Black Swamp was coming into view.

She wordlessly handed the phone back to Val. The moment he touched it, _Emergency Only _blinked back onto the screen. Valentine said to her, "so that's what your world looks like..."

"You saw?" she asked, turning to look at him. "You actually saw?"

"Cuddly sea anemone and all," he said softly. She smiled brightly and Val boiled. Not-boyfriend his ass.

Helena glanced at him. "Thank you so much, Val. I'm glad I could hear their voices again."

"I do my best," he said with a quick smile. He didn't know why Valentine and her exchanged that look, nor did he understand the sadness that devoured both their features. "What? What'd I say?" he asked, nervously.

"It's nothing, Val. It just reminded me of something I'd rather forget." Helena's sad answer drew Valentine away from the conversation and over to the window. Out of the corner of his eye he watched as Val slowly moved towards the beautiful dark haired girl and hugged her from behind. Valentine glanced away, both angry with himself for lacking the ability to say 'sorry' and sad that he couldn't be there for Helena like the blonde boy could.

_You know, _the Tower whispered in his ear, _that could be you. You apologized to me, why can't you apologize to her. After all, she already forgave you._

"I know," he muttered back, his voice pitched low enough so the couple couldn't hear him. "It's just hard."

_You did wrong. But you know that. So saying sorry shouldn't be hard when you know there really aren't hard feelings, Valentine._

Valentine shrugged his shoulders and glanced back out the window. "It doesn't matter anyway. Helena's going to go back to her World, and she's going to go with the blonde idiot over there, and I'll probably never see her again."

_Valentine..._ asked the Tower seriously, _do you love her?_

Valentine turned fully away from the couple in the middle of his Tower and whispered, beyond anguished, "yeah. Yeah, I do."

-

A few minutes later the Tower landed them on the end of the Dark Lands. _Black swamp is that way, lady and gents. _Helena heard a different note in the Tower's melodic voice. She lingered behind, letting her two friends go first, though they both insisted that ladies go before men, she pulled the age before beauty card and they both reluctantly went first.

"Tower?" Helena inquired. "Are you all right?"

The Tower chuckled. _I'm fine, Miss Helena. Perhaps you should be turning your concern elsewhere. To my reluctant and volatile charge. He needs your comfort more than I._

Helena frowned, bidding the Tower thanks and goodbye and rushed after Val and Valentine. Valentine strode forward, several yards in front of Val who looked at his surroundings with a fair amount of trepidation. Helena didn't notice her blonde boy from the HarshReality, only Valentine, the masked fiend of the MirrorRealm.

"Valentine! Valentine?" she caught up with him. "You all right? You're all 'ooh moody' suddenly."

Valentine gave her a quick smile. "Nah. Just a depressing place, we're in."

The smile she gave him made his breath catch, and was shocked to feel her hand slide in to his, their fingers interlock as though it was the most normal thing in the World to do. "Piece of cake," she said warmly. "Hel's got nothing on me."

He gave her hand a light squeeze. "Yeah," he said. "That's true."

She felt inexplicably pleased when he squeezed her hand. She squeezed back and they walked in silence, hands swinging between them. Val walked a couple of paces back, wondering that, when the time came, if Helena really could choose which Reality to stay in. The one she created, or the one that owned her.

-

Hel sat on her throne, her black spider machine sitting next to her, projecting images of the three teenagers walking towards her Swamps. She glanced over each of the faces, one masked, two not. She smiled, her black on black eyes lighting with inner fire as a plan came to form inside her sinister mind. She turned to her cronies, her council.

"Well," she said lightly. "You can't run away without destroying somebody's world." On cue, they laughed. Oh yes, this was the life.

-

As Valentine, Helena and Val entered the Swamp, Valentine stumbled. Helena tried to haul him up using what little strength she had, but it was not to be. Hel's artfully planted muck hole was sucking him into one of her lower dungeons. Helena planted her feet and pulled, unwilling to let go of Valentine's hand. Val seized her around the waist holding her firmly while she pulled.

Valentine struggled at first and realized that while the muck was oozing around his shoulders, his feet seemed to be dangling in dry, empty space. With an effort, he unwound his fingers from Helena's hand, and simply let go. Helena screamed as Valentine vanished underneath the surface of the Earth.

"NO!" Helena wailed as Valentine's fingers disappeared into the mud. "This is _MY WORLD!" _she cried, "and It's _not supposed to kill my best friend!" _

Val hauled Helena back from the pit and gathered her close as she sobbed into his shoulder.

"Shh..." he whispered. "Come on...we have to get to the...wherever we're going. Valentine wouldn't want you to grieve like this. Come on 'Lena..." She sniffed once, resolutely, and using the sleeve of her shirt, she wiped away the stray tears.

"This bitch," Helena growled, "is going down."

-

Hel sat waiting as Valentine fell into her dungeon. "Hey," she said genially. "Glad you could drop in."

"What the bloody..."

"Sh!" She hissed at him.

Valentine opened and closed his mouth looking distressed and unable to speak. Hel smiled. "Hasn't anyone taught you not to swear in front of a lady?" She asked, crossing her arms. "Well..." she said, "you're rather dull when you don't speak but I'm sure I can figure something out."

She took him by the hand and led him into a different room, filled with clocks, and strange drum like apparitions. "Speak," she said just as the door closed behind them.

"What the b...what's going on? Why am I alive?"

"Why..." Hel laughed. "It suits my needs of course!" She reached up and ripped the mask from his face. It left him beardless, paint-less, and exposed. She ignored him as his hands shot up to cover his vulnerable face. Tears shone in his eyes and his pale hands did nothing to cover his equally pale face. "As does this face." She reached up and batted his hands away. To his horror, her next move led her to touch his bare cheek. "Begin," she whispered.

Several doll like structures unfolded from the drums, their clockwork bodies gleaming dully in the low light, their oddly distorted faces leaning towards him, and blew gold dust over him.

Ghostly hands swept down and lightly touched his face, and he thought dazedly of Helena. He felt the remnants of his mask lifted away from his pale face and then the memory of ever having one slipped away. Faint music trickled into his ears and he swayed to the tune, leisurely and slowly.

Another hand filled his vision and he shut his eyes awaiting the gentle touch. Instead of the soft hand on his skin, warm air danced across his face. He found his eyes too tired to open and just swayed with the music and the hands.

Valentine let himself lose the white coat, sliding over his shoulders. A whisper soft voice sang to him and he turned to face it, stepping out of the rest of his clothes. Color splashed over the darkness in his vision and another hand stroked over his hair.

He wondered vaguely how Helena had gotten so tall, and why she never told him that she could sing. Clothing slid over his body, warm and soft as silk and Valentine wondered why she was dressing him.

The hand on his head pressed down hard and for one blissful moment, he thought Helena would kiss him. Then Helena slipped from his mind, the plan slipped from him, his memories next, and then finally, his very self.

Valentine turned and opened his eyes. He was no longer Valentine, and his eyes were pure black. The only woman in his mind was Hel, his dark princess.

The mannequin dolls vanished, and the nameless man walked out of the room, and away from what was left of himself.

-

Helena strode purposely through the swamp, her eyes bright with unshed tears, but her step true and swift. Val had to jog to keep up with her, and finally, fatigue caught him at the knees and he fell to the damp earth.

"Val, come on!" She turned to help him and saw his mouth open in a shout of warning. Something hard slammed her in the back of her head and she crumpled to the earth, and the world faded out.

When she opened her eyes, Val was still unconscious, his head hanging down at a surprisingly obtuse angle, making Helena wince in sympathy. She glanced around. Someone stood in the shadows.

"Who is there?" she called out, only a little nervous. No answer was immediately forthcoming, and Helena realized she wasn't tied up. Val was, and she leaned over to start to untie his wrists. A hand slammed on hers, and she suddenly found herself being dragged away. "Hey! Who the hell are..." a beam of light from the ceiling caught the face of the shadowy figure, throwing his features into stark relief. A mask-less Valentine. "Valentine..." she whispered.

He was silent, which terrified Helena more than words could express. Valentine was never quiet. He always chattered on, even about stupid little things, filling the silence with warm happiness. This was a terrifying Valentine of silence, stupor and lastly, hate. "Valentine...?" she whispered.

"I believe you have me mistaken for someone else, prisoner." His voice was harsh, totally unlike Valentine's easy going chatter, and resounded coldly in her ears.

"Pris..." her voice trailed off, going limp in Valen-Hel's Slave's arms. He dropped her without preamble and moved back into the shadows, and she hit the ground beside Val with a dull thud.

"Val. Val, come on..." she shook her fellow prisoner, making sure not to touch his ropes again. "Val! Idiot, wake up!" He mumbled something and flopped to one side. "Brilliant," she muttered. She leaned against the wall, her eyes on the shell of Valentine.

Silence reigned for a long time, and Helena's internal clock told her it had been maybe more than an hour since the anti-Valentine and her had exchanged words. Sudden movement drew her attention to the corner, and Hel stepped out into the middle of the room to stand beside the Anti-Valentine.

Hel glanced at her.

"Hmm.." the noise was almost contemplative, as if she were toying with some delicious idea. Then her face took on a light of simple, unadulterated disdain and triumph, and she turned to the Anti-Valentine with his black eyes. "Kill her."

Helena's heart leaped into her throat as the Anti-Valentine pulled out a wicked looking curved dagger and advanced on her. He pulled her up close to him, placing the dagger at her throat.

"Good-bye," he said nastily.

"Valentine..." she whispered, "please!" She placed her hands on the dagger, and leaned up an inch and laid her mouth over his. She kissed him desperately, and whispered against his mouth, "please..."

Valentine's face twitched, his brows drawing down into a frown while his lips tugged upwards in a smile. His hands fell away from her, falling to his side. Helena backed away as all expression drained out of Valentine's face. His eyes shuttered closed and his body went limp.

The dagger clattered to the floor, and Valentine fell with it. He crouched, his hands over his face, shuddering. "Helena?" he whispered. "Helena...how...?"

"Well," she said, kneeling next to him, "I didn't have any Glow Balls."

He chuckled, looking up. "Onwards and upwards, right?" he asked, meeting her eyes.

She hadn't known his eyes were green...the moment was broken by Hel shrieking. "You weren't supposed to do that!!" she put her hands on her hips and stamped one foot.

Helena stood, lifting Valentine with her. "Sorry," she said, insincerely. "I guess your power isn't as strong as your mothers was. What'd you do? Kill her? Bury her in the swamp?"

Hel's dark eyes flashed angrily, and Valentine wondered for the briefest instant how he ever had mixed the two of them up. "Well," Hel said nastily, "actually, you killed her my dear, Helena. You and your penchant for saving this stupid bloody world!"

"I?" Helena asked, her strong stance wavering for the briefest instant. Valentine slid his hand into hers, casting a look at the figure in the corner. Val was still out for the count, but was coming around slowly. The de-masked man racked his brain for ideas to get the three of them out of there without any harm to any of them. Although the blood than ran unchecked down Helena's neck was testament to failure. "How did I kill her?"

"By bringing me back!" Hel launched herself at Helena, knocking her out of Valentine's grasp and flinging her to the floor. "All I wanted was a real life! Where I could be myself! No one to give me orders!" each sentence she screamed out turned into a flailing punch to Helena's trapped face. Valentine lifted Hel off her and shoved her back unwilling to hit a girl, but unable to help it.

Helena's eye was black, her nose bleeding but unbroken. She lifted herself to her feet and stood, her body turned slightly away from Hel. She wiped the blood away with a swipe of her black sleeve, and smirked.

"Is that the best you can do?"

Hel leapt at her again, but this time, Helena was ready for it. She duck and rolled causing Hel to miss her completely. Helena caught the dagger in her hand and tumbled to her feet. Just as she turned, Hel launched herself into Helena's personal space and grabbed her around the neck. Helena closed her eyes and took the plunge. Hel's eyes widened in surprise, and her hands went slack. She stumbled backward, the dagger sticking out from her chest. "I'm sorry," Helena said as she caught the falling Child Queen of Darkness. Gently she laid the girl who could have been her twin down and stroked her hair. "I'm sorry it came to this."

Hel just turned her head and closed her eyes, and died. Valentine stood staring at Helena as she turned to face him, smiled weakly and passed out, sliding to the floor. Valentine picked her up and gently laid her next to Val while he untied the other boy. "Wake up!" he hissed, slapping his face. "Wake up, stupid!"

Val's eyes fluttered open, shut again, then snapped open and he sat up, narrowly missing colliding foreheads with Valentine. "Helena! Where is she? And...what happened to your mask?" Almost unconsciously Valentine's hand flew to his face, covering the skin. Val stared in fascination as he looked at a man who could be his twin. Valentine's hair was spiky where his own was straight, Valentine's eyes green while Val's were blue, but beyond that, they were twins.

Valentine broke Val's stare by turning to look at Helena. "She's over there." Val glanced over.

"Is she okay?"

"So far." Valentine hauled Val to his feet then took off his black jacket wrapping it around Helena and lifted her into his arms. The ground rumbled. "Was that you?" Valentine asked the other man.

"Uh-uh.."

The ground rumbled again. Valentine and Val turned as one and glanced behind them. Hel, or what was left of her was a seething bubbling mass of black shadows. Valentine glanced back at Val.

"Run," he barked, and holding tightly to Helena he ran. They made it out of the castle before it bubbled into nothingness. They made it out of the forest before it vanished too. The Tower swallowed them up just as the darkness ate the Dark Lands.

Before their very eyes the borders twisted, and the MirrorRealm became one dimensional, Light with a Sea of Dark around it. Valentine hefted Helena in his arms, changing her position, and she mumbled something, curling into his embrace. Valentine felt time slow down and he leaned over her to whisper in her ear, "I love you..."

Val growled next to him, but stopped making noise when Helena shifted again, sighing. "I love you too...Val..." she yawned, and Val's face lit up while Valentine tried very hard not to panic. "...entine.." she finished softly, and passed back into the slumber she moved to when her body no longer had any need to be unconscious. Valentine couldn't help but smile as he set Helena on a couch.

Val watched her sleep quietly, then glanced at Valentine. "She was never mine to have, was she?" he asked softly.

Valentine looked up sharply. "I really wouldn't know," he said carefully. "She's her own person. I'm just her manager."

Val sighed. "Valentine..." he looked back at Helena. "You told her you loved her." Valentine didn't reply. "She told you she loved you back."

The silence drew on, and Val turned to see Valentine, his hand over his face in an attempt to hide what he was feeling. "She was asleep," the formerly masked jester said sharply. "People say things that they wouldn't normally say when they're asleep!"

Val's expression turned knowing. "Just like people in dreams say things that people in dreams only say?" While Valentine remained confused, openly staring at the other man, Val continued, "people say 'I love you' to friends and lovers outside of sleep too, you know."

"Not to me. I've done nothing but hurt her and betray her."

Val left Helena's side to face his double. "So this is why everyone in this world wears masks..." he mused quietly. "They all have something to hide." He glanced up at Valentine and caught his eyes, not letting the other man look away. "Helena and I haven't been friends long. But I know her well enough to know that she looks at you different then all the boys and men she spends her time with. I thought I could love her, but I can't fight with a memory of someone who looks like me but isn't. I tried to catch her affections, she would grant me a moment of her smile and then turn to you. Tell me you can give that up."

Valentine looked at Val with renewed respect. "You're not so stupid after all, kid," he said quietly. "But it doesn't matter anyway. With the Dark Lands destroyed, there's nothing to hold her here."

Val turned back to look at Helena who was slowly stirring. He clasped Valentine's shoulder. "There's you," he offered.

The look Valentine gave him could only be described as sorrowful, but it was gone a moment later. Val gave up the conversation for lost until quietly, the masked man replied, "no, there's not."

Almost as though she had heard, Helena's eyes fluttered open. Valentine and Val were right there and waiting for her. "Oi," Val said, "how come you get to sleep for most of the trip?"

She grinned. "Is it over?"

"Yeah," Valentine said, glancing at the window. "It's over."

Helena sighed. "Good...good..."

-

They let down just outside the Palace's walls. The White Queen stood at the entrance an anxious look on her face. "Is it over?"

"Yeah," Helena said, sharing a look with Valentine. "It's over."

"Thank the Maker." A grin flashed across Helena's face. "Please, come inside, and bathe and rest. Oh. I found this, fluttering around." A little red book appeared behind her.

"Book!" Helena rushed up the stairs to snatch him from the air. "I thought we lost you."

The pages fluttered and she opened it to the middle page. _Never forget; never surrender._

Valentine glanced over her shoulder. "Nice motif," he said softly.

Helena chuckled. The White Queen showed them to three separate rooms and all three fell into an exhausted sleep (even though two of the three slept for most of what had happened.) Helena was the first to wake, her sleep much less troubled than her companions. She ventured out of her room and down the stairs into the Queen's bedroom. The Queen sat, staring at the reflection of the sun. "Majesty?" Helena asked carefully, coming down the stairs the rest of the way.

"Ahh, my dear Helena." The Queen rose to embrace her. Helena allowed it, thinking of her mother. "Come, we have much to speak about." They sat on the couches again, closer together as to speak in more private tones. "Hel is dead?"

"Yes. And the Dark Lands destroyed by a sea of darkness."

The White Queen nodded sagely. "I am both sad and happy by this. I am happy for that means there is no longer a threat, but I am sad because there is no position left for me to tempt you to stay here with."

Helena chuckled sadly. "I'm sorry, majesty. But even if there had been a position to take up, I would have suggested Valentine and left anyway."

"Would you have?" The White Queen asked.

"Yes," Helena answered honestly. "This is my world, but nothing's really holding me here, so I'll go home, to my parents and my circus. I'll be happy with Val, and live my life as a normal girl should."

The White Queen quirked a sardonic brow.

"And what of Valentine?"

Helena looked away. "What of him," she repeated carefully.

"He loves you, Helena." The dark haired girl looked up sharply. "He'd never tell you to your face of course, but he does." She nodded at Helena's pocket where _The Really Useful Book _fluttered against the folds of cloth. "Just ask him."

Helena opened it to a random page. _Hate is only love with its back turned._

She frowned at it. "That's not very helpful." She flipped the pages around for a moment and opened a different one.

_Love is a symbol of eternity. It wipes out all sense of time, destroying all memory of a beginning and all fear of an end._

Helena nodded once. "Much better." The White Queen chuckled.

"Does it change your mind?"

"No," Helena said. "My place is in my world."

The White Queen leaned forward and took Helena's hand. "My dear, this is your world."

-

Helena stood in front of the window that led to the outside world of the queen's palace. Showing vibrantly through the window was Helena's room, and her parents said anxiously on the bed. Helena glanced down at the mirrormask in her hand and then handed it to Val. She turned and hugged the White Queen tightly. "Thank you," she whispered. "For being so much like my mother."

The queen laughed. "You created me that way, but I am glad I helped." Helena handed _A Really Useful Book_ to her. "I shall keep him safe."

"Bye book. Be good." Helena turned to Valentine who stared at her through unreadable features. His mask was gone and he had yet to find a new one, but his eyes were as empty as his mask. "Valentine..?" she asked softly.

He focused on her. "Well," he said brightly. "At least this time, you get to say good bye." He paused. "So good-bye!" He turned to leave quickly, but she caught his arm and hugged him tightly.

"Good-bye." She whispered into his shirt. "I'll miss you."

Slowly his arms came around her and clasped her to him. "I'll miss you too," he whispered into her hair. "Now go." He pushed her toward the mirror. He took the mirrormask from Val and gently placed the bit of metal against her face. Val took her hand and squeezed it once as the world whirled out of focus and back in, leaving a sad eyed Valentine behind to see an astonished Morris and slightly less surprised Joanne.

"Mum! Dad!" Helena threw herself into her parents arms. Val looked down at his hands. The mirrormask lay in his grasp. Careful not to draw Helena's attention he turned back to the mirror. The Prime Minister stood there, gesturing him to be quiet.

"Hide it. She'll use it when she's ready." Val nodded. He kept it behind his back as the image in the mirror faded away.

"'Lena?" he questioned. "I'm going to go to my trailer and sleep...whatever this is...off, all right?"

"All right," she said softly. "I'll see you at practice tomorrow."

He fairly fled from the room holding the mirrormask safely in his arms.

-

The morning after their exciting trip to the MirrorRealm, Val knocked on the door to Helena's trailer. He had never been in it, and wanted the privacy it offered. She opened the door and let him in. They stood fidgeting, neither knowing what to say to each other until finally Helena said, "this is ridiculous!"

"It is, a bit, yeah.." Val said self-consciously. "Helena...what happened in the MirrorRealm was real...wasn't it?"

She nodded. "It almost doesn't feel like we've been gone, has it? We were only gone for a day or so." Val agreed. "But yes, it happened. And it's going to keep happening. I have to fix it, again, from here." She held up her notebook and pen.

Val smiled. "You work too hard." Helena shrugged. "C'mon. Let's go out."

"What?" she asked, confused.

"Out. For lunch. My treat." Val's eyes implored her from the doorway and she gave in gracefully. She took his hand and they walked together for a bit before attempting to cross the street. Helena made it across first, and as Val was hurrying to catch up, someone slammed into him.

He stumbled and when he righted himself he was gazing into expressive grey eyes. A feminine squeal broke the stare and he saw Helena jump at the girl he had ran into. "Door!" she cried. "I thought you went to Wales!"

"Helena!" the girl named Door hugged her happily. "I was in Wales, but father said the circus' there were too trying so he sent me back here. I just got done talking to Morris, and he's given me back my old act!"

Helena squealed again and hugged her friend tightly. "Oh! Door! This is Val, he's my juggling partner. Val, this is Doreen, she's the youngest acrobat this side of Surrey." Val shook her hand.

"Sorry about running into you," he offered.

"My fault." Door glanced at Helena meaningfully. The three stood together silently for a moment, just that side of uncomfortable, when Helena's cell phone rang.

She took it quickly. "'Lo?" she said. "Oh, hi dad. Yeah, I know, I just ran into her. Really? Okay, I'll be there." She hung up. "Dad wants me back at Nan's for a family meeting. Val why don't you take Door out, I'll rain check."

After saying hasty good-bye's, Helena ran back across the road. She looked back once to see Val and Door walking in company and she grinned. They didn't have to know she called her own cell phone.

-

Almost a year later, Helena finished the MirrorRealm. She told Val in secret over the phone, and he told her he'd come over straight away. Putting the dusty mirrormask in his pack, he fairly ran to her Aunt Nan's house and joined her there. He watched her put the last final touch on it, a miniature circus, at the end of a miniature lane.

While she was drawing on the flat of the wall, Val placed the mirrormask under her pillow. They watched the wall of moving Pictures for a while before Val's cell phone rang for dinner with his Door.

Helena hugged him tightly. "Thanks for being there for me."

Val squeezed her back. "Always." He kissed her on the forehead.

"Mm! Tell Door I said hello!" Helena added as an after thought, thinking of Val's girlfriend Doreen.

"I will. If she'll forgive me for being late." He hugged Helena one last time and ran out the door. He had given up on ever claiming Helena as his own, she was too young for one, and two, her drawings of Valentine were much too lovingly drawn for him to step in.

Door was the exact opposite of Helena, and Val loved her very much. Now if only Helena would come to her senses...

Helena flopped down on her pillow and winced as she hit something hard. She pulled out the mirrormask. Taped to the forehead in Val's hand writing, it said, _been hanging on to this for a year. The minister guy gave it to me, for you. Use it when you're ready. -Val (Ps. I love you and take care.)_

Helena glanced up at the mirror in her room and smiled.

-

Valentine sat in the middle of the street, the Tower a few feet behind him and the Book fluttering around his head. He was juggling stones, as usual when the book suddenly dive bombed his head and fell open to a certain page. He stared at the loud proclamation on the page before him in consternation, which read:

_YOU IDIOT!!! _

The hand writing was different though, flow instead of angle. Curves instead of sharps. He glanced up, his eyes desperately searching, and saw nothing. He sighed, disappointed but not surprised, and turned to go back to his tower.

There, leaning in the doorway stood Helena, a hat upon her head, a cell phone in one hand, and under her arm a set of inks and paints, behind her ear; a brush. And fading in the air were the words, 'you idiot' until they fell to the cobblestones in black charcoal dust.

"Hello," she said.

Valentine swallowed hard. "Helena..."

"Figured it was time to visit my finished City. After all, what's this world going to do with no darkness to balance out the light?"

Valentine brushed his hair out of his maskless face, and uncaring who saw, he swept Helena into his arms, his sudden movements forcing her to drop her things. He bent his head low to hers and whispered, "I missed you." He kissed her, deeply, softly, gently, passionately and all other emotions in between. "And I never got to return that," he said when he had to breathe.

"Oh good," Helena said cheerfully, albeit breathlessly. "I wondered when we'd get around to that." They kissed again as the sun rose over the top of the tower, and the mirrormask that was held loosely in Helena's free hand glinted in the sunlight.

-

The Librarian blew on the pages of 'A Brief History of everything' and closed the book. His world too, was finally finished. And it was the mirror image of the one he lived in. The one his beautiful little girl had finally finished creating.

It was done.

-

Helena stared up at the sky as Tower flew them through the air towards the Palace of Light. Stars flew by, creating lines of light in the inky blackness. Valentine stood by her side, their shoulders touching. The trip only took a few minutes, the Towers happiness at Helena's return speeding its flight. _The Palace of Light, my lady._

"Tower," Helena reprimanded, her voice amused. The Tower chuckled and opened the door for them. Together, Helena and Valentine walked out into the sun light. The sun winked at her, and Helena winked back. The Prime Minister stood in shock half up the steps, half down.

"Helena?" he cried, his voice questioning in shock.

Helena looked up at him, and smiled.

-

The End


End file.
